The Prodigy's Keith Flint dies at 49

AP

LONDON (AP) — Keith Flint, lead singer of influential British dance-electronic band The Prodigy, was found dead Monday at his home near London, the band said. He was 49.

Prodigy co-founder Liam Howlett said in an Instagram post that Flint killed himself over the weekend.

“I’m shell shocked ... confused and heart broken,” he wrote.

Police confirmed that the body of a 49-year-old man had been found at a home in Brook Hill, northeast of London. They said the death was being treated as non-suspicious and a file would be sent to the coroner — standard practice in cases of violent or unexplained deaths.

Flint was the stage persona of the band, whose 1990s hits “Firestarter” and “Breathe” were an incendiary fusion of techno, breakbeat and acid house music.

The Prodigy sold 30 million records, helping to take rave music from an insular community of party-goers to an international audience. They had seven No. 1 albums in Britain, most recently with “No Tourists” in 2018.

Flint was renowned for his manic stage energy and distinctive look: black eyeliner and hair spiked into two horns.

“A true pioneer, innovator and legend,” the band said in a statement confirming his death. “He will be forever missed.”

Born Keith Charles Flint on Sept. 17, 1969 in east London, he moved to east of the city to Braintree, Essex as a child, where he met Howlett at a nightclub.

Formed in the early 1990s, The Prodigy was known as much for its overt anti-establishment stance as for its music. The band members were vocal critics of the U.K.’s Criminal Justice And Public Order Act 1994, which banned the raves popularized in the late-1980s during the so-called Second Summer of Love.

Electronic duo the Chemical Brothers tweeted that Flint “as an amazing front man, a true original and he will be missed.”

Grime musician Dizzee Rascal said he had opened for The Prodigy in 2009, “and he was one of the nicest people I’ve met and always was every time I met him, the whole band were. When it comes to stage few people can carry a show like him I’m proud to say I’ve seen it for myself.”

From The Prodigy's Twitter

Damn, 49 is way to young to go.

Any of you Prodiogy fans?

RIP I remember watching their music videos back in the day on MTV Flint was a fantastic front man such a shame.

My wife was into them back in the mid 90's. I never bought an album but they were cool. I doubt their "smack my bitch up" song would be as warmly received in the current times but we loved it 20 years ago.

@nintendoboy16: 49 is way to young to go but it looks like he took his own life.

"theprodigyofficial

The news is true , I can’t believe I’m saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend ,

I’m shell shocked , fuckin angry , confused and heart broken ..... r.i.p brother Liam #theprodigy"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BulgJBZAw5L/?utm_source=ig_embed

RIP "Firestarter" and another star who didn´t manage to get help in time.

They had some great songs back in the day.

I remember rushing home from work in 97 so I could get the Fat of the Land album and saw them live a few months later. Met him once a couple of years ago and a really nice guy, owned a pub about 20 miles from me...RIP

That's too bad. Definitely one of the bands of my childhood that I still actually like to this day haha.

Just a terrible reminder about how depression*, anxiety*, and suicide can affect anyone.

*assumption on my part. Have no idea why he killed himself.

Ah, man. Loved that guy.

I swear I'm the only one in the world who got this scene:

RIP, Keith.

I haven't listened to Prodigy in a long time, but used to be into them back in the '90s, after getting into their music with the Wipeout games.

Killed himself? Is this going to be like the time I read Kelsey Gammer and patrick Stuart had died. I call bullshit.

@jackamomo: Supposedly he and his wife split up and that got to him. He'd already had depression for a long time.

@PfizersaurusRex: people really don't don't just kill themselves. No matter how depressed they are. The programming to stop that is too strong. This is fishy.

The only realistic way is hanging and I'm pretty sure that is the polite way of saying they died having an asphyksy -wank.

Also, I'm not even sure how you hang yourself as you would have to bind your hands. It is probably about as easy as holding your breath until you pass out in which case your brain will take over breathing anyway.

I think suicide is probably one of the hardest things to do.